


In the Center of Eclipse

by Razzledazzy



Series: It's Best Not to Stare at the Sun [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, An unusually high amount of natural 20 rolls happen over the course of this fic if you know DND, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Whump, also featured in this fic: fun with critical fails, ignores some dnd lore but stays consistent with the universe Mercer has set up, that tag is VERY IMPORTANT OKAY DONT SKIP OVER IT, werewolf!Percy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 15:08:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6759052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Razzledazzy/pseuds/Razzledazzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One second changes everything during the fight against the Elder Brain. Now Percy and Vax must make their way out of the Underdark the hard way,  separated from the rest of their party with only each other to rely on. </p><p>Secrets will surface, but will they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Total Darkness I Reach Out

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to hit me up @ [tricksterlesbian](http://tricksterlesbian.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. This was beta'd by the lovely [vexahliia](http://vexahliia.tumblr.com/) so go give her some love as well.

It only takes a second for the world to shift.

Vax’ildan knocked the air out of Percy’s lungs as he lept onto the moving carpet, arms barely catching around Percy’s neck to keep from stumbling. The movement gave the rogue all the time he needed to lean back and plant a kiss smack on the corner of Percy’s mouth.

“Let’s get out of here you bastard.”

The casual affection of the gesture floored Percy, and a curl of satisfaction that had no business diffusing the adrenaline of battle tingled through his limbs, bringing a light blush on his cheeks. There was no time to contemplate why it suddenly felt as though Vax’ildan had carved out a piece of the sun and stuck it in his heart. The battle still needed to be fought and won.

It only took one second of miscalculation for the world to shift again.

Aiming down the barrel of Bad News now that Vax had stepped away, Percy breathed out and pulled the trigger. Taking the kickback to the chest, Percy compensated with a small step backward.

The carpet dipped under his heel, throwing Percy off center so quickly that even his prenaturally fast reflexes couldn't compensate in time. Vertigo made his head swim. Bile rose in his throat as he slipped off the carpet and dropped like a rock, having only the barest presence of mind to jam the web of his thumb in front of Bad News’ hammer so it wouldn’t fire when he hit the ground.

“Shit! Percy!” Vax yelled, lunging to pull the gunslinger back onto the carpet. Air slipped through empty fingers where Percy’s jacket had been only seconds before.

There was a crack of noise and pressure pushed in on Percy’s head, his vision doubling before fading out as a darkness descended upon him.

Vax’ildan took control of the carpet to keep it from dropping out of the air and immediately brought it into a dive past two mindflayers. The carpet skid to a stop barely close enough for Vax to drag Percy’s unconscious form onto it. For all Vax knew about medicine he could be paralyzing his best friend, but they needed to move _now_. Blood was soaking through snow white hair and staining the parts of the carpet it touched. The very sight of it making Vax’s stomach turn uneasily. Surely that was too much blood, Percy had only been wounded for a few seconds at most.

“Come on Percy, we need you moving,” Vax said to himself, rolling the limp weight onto the center of the carpet. The mindflayers were mostly occupied with the others, who had reached the top of the temple and were now taking the necessary steps to get everyone in flight without the carpet.

“Go!” Vax yelled at them, grabbing Bad News and setting it beside Percy, bundling his cloak under the gunslinger’s head in a panicked attempt to make his unconscious friend more comfortable.

The carpet shuddered under Vax’s control, rising into the air once more. Two illithid turned from the top of the temple turned to focus on the rising carpet. One handed, Vax flipped a dagger end over end right into the first one’s eye, the same hand grabbing at the next dagger on his belt to immediately strike again. The first illithid cried out, clutching its head as its tentacles writhed. It stopped short, the second illithid bumping into it and leaving an opening for Vax’ildan to steer the carpet through the top of the temple where the rest of the party were already flying away. Grog was closest to the top of the temple, but even he had a 60 foot head start. Vex’ahlia was seated on a flying Trinket and Keyleth had taken eagle form accompanied by what could only be a polymorphed Scanlan carrying Pike. Nearly out of sight, Tiberius screeched through the air ahead of everyone else.

Everyone was accounted for, even Lady Kima resplendent in stone mid-battle was held safely under Grog’s arm. Vax let a small sigh of relief out through his nose. There was no winning the fight against the Elder Brain, he knew this. It still felt like running away and giving up. At least everyone would be safe.

“Vox Machina made some new enemies today,” Vax intoned quietly to an unconscious Percy, resting a hand on his arm so he could fly faster without fear of the gunslinger slipping off the carpet. There was no way that Percy would survive a repeated dive into the earth from this height.

Lights danced in the distance, glinting off the crystals lining the walls of the cavern. Vax assumed it was Tiberius casting something to get them the fuck out of here. They would need the advantage with the swarm of mindflayers gathering behind them at the temple to attend the Elder Brain.

As they approached the beach, Vax saw the rest of the party disappear through a rift that was slowly getting smaller. Clutching Percy’s arm, Vax urged the carpet faster.

“This is going to either be very badass or very bad,” Vax said over the wind as they approached the shrinking rift just after Grog. Closing his eyes, Vax’ildan sent up a quick prayer to Sarenrae that wherever Tiberius was teleporting them too was safe.

Then there was nothing.

Vax opened his eyes again to see the far wall of the cavern approaching. “Fucking shit!” he wheeled the carpet around enough to look at the circle of teleportation now etched into the beach. The lines of the runes were dimming and the hum of power it had generated slowly began to dissipate.

“Oh we are so fucked. Vex is going to kill me,” Vax bemoaned.

Percy groaned something unintelligible in response, snapping Vax’s attention back to the problem at hand. They still needed to get the fuck out of here while the illithid were confused by the residual magic of the teleportation circle. His mind reeled off possible hiding spots before Vax decided one. If they thought that everyone had teleported away, why would they look near the entrance? It was their best chance. It could be their only chance.

Vax took a moment to take off his serpentine belt, chastising it for trying to turn into a snake during a time of crisis. It was a second before it shivered back into leather that Vax could loop through his belt of returning and then loop it again through Percy’s belt. “Safety first,” Vax quipped to fill the silence their party had left behind.

The action had taken precious time, but it made Vax feel better about grabbing the carpet with both hands and ordering it full speed over the lake towards the entrance.

Luckily enough, the carpet was capable of flying low enough for Vax to reach down and top up his waterskin. As soon as they had somewhere moderately safe to stop Percy would need medical care, or at least as much care as Vax could provide. His heart hammered with what he began to suspect was poorly managed panic, rather than post-battle adrenaline. Though his heart always seemed to feel a little like that whenever Percy was around.

Gilding across the water could have taken hours or minutes, Vax’s mind was so caught up worrying about Percy’s condition and making different plans that he almost didn’t notice when the hypnotic water shifted from beach to a gradient of smooth stone.

Vax brushed a shock of white hair back from Percy’s forehead, sighing at the heat he felt behind it. On one hand it was good. It meant that Percy was still alive- at risk for infection, but alive.

“Just hang on Percy, ok? I’ve got a plan.”

The goal was to get to the partially blocked cavern where they had found the dwarven artifacts earlier. It was the most defensible position he could think of. Once he was there he could examine exactly how injured Percy was and why he was still unconscious.

So long as no one got cursed they would be golden. Vax’ildan had to hope for that, at least.

 

* * *

 

Vax settled the carpet as gently as he could when they reached their destination. Gently pulling the cloak of elvenkind from beneath Percy’s head, Vax spread it over his unconscious partner. That should be enough to protect him for as long as it would take for Vax to set up in the cavern.

The first thing he did was immediately drop all of his gear in a pile next to the flattest, least dusty part of the cave. Then he took out an old, disused lantern, lit it, and unrolled the bedroll on the floor in preparation of having somewhere to put Percy while he worked on binding his wounds. The second thing, _well_...

“Please don’t curse me again, oh gods, I’m so sorry,” Vax apologized shrilly as he moved the bodies of the fallen dwarves into the deepest corner of the cave. Percy was _not_ going to die but Vax didn’t want to press his luck trying to play cleric in the middle of a bunch of corpses.

That done, he returned to the entrance where he carefully knelt down and hooked his arms under Percy in a way that wouldn’t knock against his injured head. Lifting him, Vax cradled Percy to his chest and carried him inside the partially blocked passage.

There was a gentleness to how Vax lay Percy back on the ground inside the cavern, as if he was afraid of causing more damage to his already fallen friend. Percy immediately clenched his fingers around Vax’s arm before he could withdraw, holding him there but not giving any instruction. “Percy?” Vax questioned.

“Hurts,” Percy mumbled.

“Yeah I know, you fell quite a ways. Don’t worry, I have you,” Vax cooed softly.

“Great. I love you,” Percy slurred before going limp once more.

Vax’ildan was floored. Did Percy mean that? Or was it the concussion talking? The cold of the cavern seeped into his knees, making the joints ache in reminder of all that he had been through today. Rough palms tried to rub away the exhaustion in his face as Vax got wearily to his feet again. The carpet still needed to be drug inside, and the hallway was too small for it to be flown in.  

Vax began the long process of dragging the rolled up carpet down the rocky entrance lengthwise, and was sweating before it was done. Straightening out a kink in his back, Vax froze, “Could I have just made the carpet fly while it was rolled up?”

Leaning over, Vax gripped the carpet and tried to command it to float without unfurling, and miraculously the carpet obeyed.

“I’m an idiot,” Vax sighed, leaning the carpet against the wall and unrolling it so that it blocked their side of the stone hallway. It was no stone wall or pillar, but it was the best he could do. Damn, maybe he should have asked Vex’ahlia to teach him some magic at some point.

Turning back to Percy, Vax amended that thought to: ‘Dammit why didn’t I learn how to cure wounds from Pike?’

There wasn’t much Vax knew that might be helpful in a medical capacity, other than how to treat his own minor injuries or cure a poison. And Percy wasn't poisoned, he had a serious head injury.

He also couldn’t tell a damn thing about Percy’s condition with that ridiculous coat getting in the way. It was cold in the cavern though, so taking off Percy’s coat would have to be a quick maneuver. Vax wasn’t looking forward to taking off Percy’s clothes as much as he would like to in any other situation.

Kneeling by the bedroll, Vax’ildan began to unbuckle Percy’s gear and started setting it off to the side. Things that were potentially explosive were set further away from their combined supplies. No reason to tempt fate for a seventeenth time in one day.

The intimidating buttons glittered on Percy’s jacket, but there was nothing else to do but slip each of them loose and carefully peel the jacket off of Percy’s arms. After that came the vest, then the cravat, and honestly, this felt like a ridiculous amount of layers. The light cotton undershirt was thin enough that Vax thought about leaving it on, but in order for him to see if the arm was broken it would have to be taken off.

Carefully, Vax propped up Percy long enough to pull the shirt off over his head before laying him back on his coat.

Fully visible, red-mottled bruises were blooming near Percy’s hips, with more prominent purple patches near his back. Vax’ildan couldn’t see if any of Percy’s ribs were broken at the moment. His forearm, however was dented in on one side, so at least one of his arm bones was broken and would need to be set.

“Oh, Percy,” Vax sighed softly before sucking in a deep breath. Straightening out the arm, Percy felt along the two sides of the fracture until he had a grip on both sides of the bone, putting pressure on each side until he felt a soft grinding and a click as the bone snapped back into place.

A haggard sigh tore from Vax’s throat. Percy was still unconscious. A blessing from Sarenrae to not have to struggle with the pain of what Vax had just done. It was definitely not a worrying condition- Percy was _not_ on death’s door. The fact that he had been unconscious for almost an hour with only one brief return to lucidity was _totally fine_.

What if Percy never woke up? What if his last words to him were “Let’s get out of here you bastard?” Was their first kiss- if that sloppy display of affection could be called that- their last? Fear for Percy’s life seized Vax’s heart, numbing his entire chest and labouring his gasps for air.

Casting about for a splint, Vax eventually settled on removing his own gauntlet and securing it around Percy’s arm. The tightness in his chest didn’t ease, but became easier to ignore the more he cared for Percy’s wounds. It was an improvised splint, but it would serve its purpose. Taking an old scarf, Vax’ildan fashioned a sling around the broken arm, hopeful that immobilizing the arm it would help it heal quickly and not put any extra pressure on any internal injuries Percy might have.

Vax started to clean the blood off Percy’s face with a spare cloth, trying to get as much out of his hair as he could, but not before taking the opportunity to fold Percy’s glasses carefully and set them aside to be cleaned later. The blood was tacky and tangled in the unruly white strands, and took careful effort to clean it out without pulling too hard on the strands or pressing into Percy’s injured skull. It was an intimate touch, as careful fingers worked to scrub away most of the blood.

There was a gash in the back of Percy’s head, oozing blood sluggishly now that the injury had begun to clot. The wound still needed to be cleaned or Vax was certain Percy would develop an infection. There was nothing like a bandage in his gear, an oversight due to his dependence on healing potions and spells no doubt, but Vax looked over what little gear they had. The supplies sat there unchanging despite how much he willed for a first aid kit to appear.

An echo of something Vex had once said ghosted through his mind. _Sometimes you have to make do._

Picking up an almost forgotten flask Vax took a swig before wetting the cloth he had used to wash away most of the blood. The alcohol was pressed gently along the gash, cleaning it as best he could. The skin looked raw when he pulled the cloth away, but otherwise no visible change to the wound told him that the alcohol had been an effective antiseptic.

Reaching over to grab Percy’s cravat, Vax folded it until the cleanest part was facing up and wrapped the length around Percy’s head as snug as he dared and tied it around the front. Part of it covered one of Percy’s blue eyes.

Which were open, and looking right at Vax with an expression that stole all of his remaining breath away.

“ _Vax_ ,” Percy breathed, trying to reach up with his bad arm and wincing as it jostled against the sling.

“Don’t move idiot, you’re very injured,” Vax replied, voice as soft as a feather.

“Injured, not dead,” Percy replied with a ghost of a smile, good arm reaching up to grasp the front of Vax’s armor and pull him down into a kiss.

Vax bent easily to Percy’s lips, chest easing with a sigh that dissipated all of his artfully internalized panic. Smooth bloodied lips slid softly against chapped lips, bitten hard over the past few hours of worrying but still light in their touch. One hand caressed down the side of Percy’s face. The other braced against the stone floor next to Percy’s head. Strands of Vax’s hair slipped off his shoulder to tickle the sides of Percy’s face, causing the injured man to smile again.

Pulling back, Vax goofily returned the smile, faces still inches from each other. Each breath mingling until they were one.

Time seemed to stretch until it reached a balance in which it froze, Percy’s ice blue eyes staring deep into Vax’s dark ones in the dim light.

“I’m very pleased to see that,” Vax chuckled awkwardly, hand reaching back up to right the metal helm that had started to slip sideways. Percy let go of Vax’s armor with an equal blush spreading across his face and down his shoulders all the way to his chest. Chest that Vax was trying not to stare at, now that he had remembered Percy was shirtless.

“How do you- um, how are you feeling?” Vax asked, sitting back and twisting a leather strap of his armor under his hands.

“My head is pounding like Grog at the bar for another round,” Percy smiled, but didn’t laugh, “My arm aches, probably broken but I think you’ve lined it up right. My back feels like one huge bruise.”

Vax brushed the hair back from Percy’s forehead again but it just flopped back over the bandage, “I’m glad you were unconscious for that.”

“What else was I unconscious for? Where are we?” Percy asked, trying to sit up with a wince. Vax pressed a gentle hand to his bare chest to keep him from rising.

“Stop, you need rest and it’s kind of a long story. Rather, it isn’t that long but unpleasant,” Vax grimaced and sat back again. “So the Elder Brain battle did not go well. That’s actually understating things quite a bit. You fell off the carpet, hit your head, I used the carpet to grab you and told everyone else to go. Everyone flew off, you should have seen what Scanlan polymorphed into so he could carry Pike, it was incredible.” The leather was creaking and cracking beneath his hands as he worried it between his fingers, wrapping and unwrapping it from his bare forearm. The story seemed to flow easier when he looked away from Percy’s pain-filled, concerned eyes.

“As far as I know, everyone got out okay. They even took Lady Kima. Tiberius cast circle of teleportation and everyone got through safely… except for us,” the leather was clenched tightly around Vax’s fist now, creaking around it.  “It’s my fault, if I had been quicker we would have made it through the portal.”

Percy’s free hand blindly pried the leather out of Vax’s hand to stop his fiddling, “It wasn’t your fault, Vax.”

Vax shrugged and began to pull his hand away, only for Percy to tighten his grip.

“Vax, look at me,” Percy demanded in a quiet voice.

It took Percy’s hand tilting Vax’s head back for Vax to look at him again, “Vax’ildan, what happened today was not your fault. If anything the fault lies with me, if I hadn’t fallen unconscious we could have gotten there sooner.”

Hot pressure welled up behind Vax’s eyes, “Percy you almost _died_! Vex is gods know where getting in gods know what kind of trouble without me and _you almost died_!” Vax ducked his head with a hot flush of shame as tears started to drip down his cheek.

There was a grunt of effort, and Percy was sitting up and reaching forward with his one arm to loop around the back of Vax’s neck and pull him close. The hand wound in the hair at the base of Vax’s neck to hold him close. Sharp bits of leather armor pressed against his bare skin, but Percy refused to let go as Vax began to shake in his grasp and fall apart.  Hot tears dripping from the rogue’s face as he heaved for breath as quietly as possible. Carefully, Percy slipped his other arm out of the sling and carefully wrapped it around Vax with only a slight wince.

“Shhhhh it’s okay,” Percy murmured, rubbing circles into Vax’s scalp to calm him down.

“ ‘m so worried, about Vex, about us, about…. everyone. I don’t want to die down here. I don’t want you to die down here. I just want to get home,” Vax heaved when his sobs started to calm down.

“Vax.”

“And it’s my fault because I kissed you and distracted you and-”

“Vax.”

“-maybe that was a bad time for it? But I suddenly couldn’t stop thinking what if something horrible happened? What if this was the last chance for me to do something about how hopelessly in love with you I am-”

“Vax.”

“What!”

Percy’s hands had moved to cup the sides of Vax’s face, forcing him to look into deep blue eyes, “I promise you that we are not going to die down here. I _promise_ you this.”

The moment stretched on as the trembling lines of Vax’s body started to still again. A few deep breaths in and deep breaths out, still like the shadows. Eyes closing of their own volition, Vax repeated the mantra until he calmed down.

Opening his eyes, Vax nodded to Percy, “Okay.”

 

* * *

 

Vax was asleep. It had taken an hour or so of waiting as Vax tried to stand watch while Percy rested before the dark half-elf’s head drooped and came to rest on his own shoulder. Percy was thankful to all of the gods that Vax had fallen asleep first.

He needed to shift in order to heal, but he couldn’t tell Vax without explaining hours of personal history that he still wasn’t comfortable thinking about, much less discussing out loud. The Briarwoods belonged in his past and possibly his future, but not his present. They would not haunt every moment of his life. There was no casual way to slip ‘by the way, everyone in my family were werewolves, so a vampire and his pet witch tracked down our family and slaughtered us’ into a conversation.

Rolling onto his elbows, Percy felt his body shudder before melting into his alternate form with a sigh. Instantly the pain was dulled, his broken arm- well it was a leg now- felt strong enough to gingerly bear his weight. Vax’s gauntlet, not being attuned to his mother’s amulet, did not disappear with the rest of Percy’s clothing and made for an awkward, clunking gait as Percy took a moment to nose about the cave for danger.

His wolf form was much larger than that of a natural wolf, but still small enough so that the cave's size wasn’t a hindrance. The carpet balanced against the entrance, however, was more of an obstacle than he anticipated. There was no way for Percy to move past it without sending it crashing to the floor and waking Vax, which was the last thing Percy wanted.

Vax needed rest.

Which of course meant that Percy was destined to trip over the gauntlet on his leg and stumble to the floor, sending rocks clattering every which way as he regained his footing. In retrospect, when he heard Vax sit up and rub the sleep from his eyes and reaching for his daggers, it occurred to Percy that this was a really dumb idea. Percy danced from paw to paw indecisively, should he run? Should he change back?

With a whine, Percy ducked his head down and pressed it into the floor, covering his head with his paws. Waiting for the inevitable bite of a dagger. Triangular ears darted forward as he heard the _ting_ of metal hitting a stone floor.

“Percy!?”

The wolf in question lowered a paw and peeked past it. Vax’s eyes were wide, and his arm slack against the floor. The bags under his eyes were even more apparent now that he had a moment to rest. Guilt flooded hot under his fur.

“What- what happened? How long was I asleep? Am I still asleep?”

Percy whined and scooted closer, tail beginning to arc in a slow wag. Never would he have imagined that Vax would _recognize_ him in wolf form. True, the fur was the same color as his hair, and his eyes were still the same blue but the whole _being a literal wolf_ was the part of the equation usually threw people.

Vax crawled onto his knees, moving forward and leaving the dagger where it lay on the floor. “What happened? Did you touch something? Were you cursed?”

A whine escaped from Percy’s throat unbidden followed by a snort, wolfish translation of: “No Vax, I'm a werewolf and I heal faster this way.”

Vax reached out a hand and cautiously placed it on the fur of Percy’s neck, fingers curling and scritching around carefully. “Your head wound looks better, and your arm’s bearing weight,” he sounded incredulous, as if he couldn’t believe this was happening. The fur felt soft and a blush began to dust lightly across Vax’s cheeks the longer he drew his fingers through it. “So, you seem calm about this... being a wolf thing?” Vax asked, confusion setting the tone of his voice.  

Percy whuffed softly, taking a step forward and pressing in closer to Vax. Blue eyes warily taking in the half-elf for any sign of panic. There was nothing signaling outward panic, but Vax looked confused. Percy could shift back and explain, but with how exhausted Vax was it may not do any good. There was a moment where Percy paused, before scooting up closer to Vax and butting into his shoulder.

Vax laughed, pushing back at the wolf softly, “What are you doing?”

Percy’s tail wagged faster as he tried to push Vax over. Then he wheeled around and grabbed the corner of the bedroll he had been on, dragging it over to where Vax was seated and letting go of it. Giving the bedroll a nudge, Percy gave Vax a sharp look.

“Okay, I think I’m getting the message,” Vax laughed, gathering up the bedroll and spreading it back out next to where he was sitting. Then he looked expectantly at the wolf, “Well, are you going to sleep or not?”

Percy rolled his eyes and grabbed onto the leather of Vax’s armor with his teeth, pulling him towards the bedroll with a huff. Then Percy let go and circled the bedroll, before returning to push forward into Vax’s back with his head.

“Fine! Fine I’m getting in the bedroll just stop-” Vax broke off to huff a laugh under his breath, “-stop, haha I’m getting in.”

Vax toed off his boots and set aside most of his weapons before sliding into the bedroll. He was tired, but someone should be standing watch. As if sensing his friend’s thoughts, Percy swept the gear out of reach with his tail. “Okay fine! But we are talking about this tomorrow!” Vax huffed, rolling his eyes and laying down on the bed roll facing the entrance of the cave. Percy sighed and laid down next to Vax, resting his head on the rogue’s side looking out at the entrance.

This was better. He could protect Vax like this. It would be hard for something to sneak up on his full range of wolf senses, and it was nice to completely let loose and utilize them after hiding them from everyone for so long.  Percy growled softly to himself the same way he used to when he needed to calm down his younger siblings, stopping only when he heard Vax’s breathing even back out into a deep sleep.

After a few hours of watching the entrance with no change, Percy’s eyes started to droop as the rhythm of Vax’s breathing lulled him to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Vax’ildan woke, disoriented, to a dark cave and a heavy weight pressing into his stomach and resting on his chest. A curious hand reached down and brushed against white hair, barely visible in the low light. It was Percy, back in the form that Vax was most familiar with. His light fingers ghosted along the fresh scar on the back of Percy’s head, it felt like an injury that healed weeks ago, not one that occurred yesterday.

Percy groaned and nuzzled into the touch. Fire sparked through Vax’s blood in response to the sound, and the gunslinger’s head turned to plant a kiss on Vax’s chin. A sigh escaped from between Vax’s lips, moving to meet Percy’s in the dark.

“So, that was a very strange night,” Vax said in between kisses, stopping Percy cold.

“Right, completely my bad. That condition... happens at times? It’s hereditary,” Percy said leaning away from Vax. Every part of his body curled in on itself, anticipating rejection. Clearing his throat, Percy decided to speak plainly instead of tiptoeing around the subject, but before he could say anything Vax spoke up.

“So you’re a werewolf?” Vax sat up as well, refusing to let Percy pull away.

Percy snorted, and spoke again quieter this time, “I was trying to be subtle about it but yes. The de Rolos have been werewolves for over a hundred years. We think it started as a curse on the family, but instead of looking for a way to cure it we adapted.”

Silence stretched out as Percy trailed off. The information assimilated itself into Vax’s mind, filling questions he didn’t know he had. Percy had always seemed a little too fast and a little to sharp on the draw. It made sense.

“Percy,” Vax caught Percy’s hands, keeping him from moving away. “This doesn’t change anything.”

The gunslinger barked a humourless laugh, “How could it not! I’m a monster-”  _I got my entire family killed._

“Don’t say that,” Vax chastised, “You’re the same Percy you’ve always been. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been to hide this part of yourself for so many years.”

Percy shuddered before leaning back against Vax’s chest. “Okay,” he sighed, nodding to himself. They had to be able to depend on each other. “It’s just- nevermind.”

Percy shook his head and stood up, walking over to the lantern and lighting it. The glow lit up the entire cavern, and Vax could now see that Percy’s back was now a mottled yellow and brown, and some of the light bruises had faded entirely.

Vax scrambled out of the bedroll after Percy, “Wait! Percy!”

Percy’s mottled back faced Vax’ildan as the gunslinger stiffly pulled the silken shirt back over his head. Catching up to him, Vax grabbed his shoulder and turned him around immediately stepping on his tiptoes to press a kiss firmly on Percy’s mouth.

The werewolf stiffened against Vax, and for a moment he thought Percy would shove him away but then arms came around to hold Vax in place. Just in time for the half-elf to feel weak in the knees.

After a minute, Vax took a step back and searched Percy’s eyes only to find conflicting emotions there. Reaching up, he cupped the side of Percy’s face. “It really doesn’t bother me, I know you Percival. You’re one of the few people in this world that I trust without any reservation.”

The gunslinger looked torn for a moment, but Vax’s hand curled around the back of his neck and brought him down for a hug that broke through Percy’s hesitation as he crumpled into the rogue, seeking comfort in the crook of Vax’s neck.

“Okay, I trust you Vax.”

Vax chuckled, the noise reverberating through Percy’s chest. “Well that’s good, because we’re going to have to test that trust if we want to get out of this place alive.”

Percy nodded, pulling away from Vax so he could look into the rogue’s eyes. “Now that you know, I suppose I could use my abilities to scout ahead-” Percy was interrupted by a gurgling noise coming from his stomach. “-I don’t suppose you have any rations? Or were all of those in the bag of holding with Grog?”

“I have a few days worth, nothing too fancy. Some soup mixes and some jerky that could make the soup mixes more filling. No bread or anything.”

Percy hummed in response, using his nose to rifle through supplies until he found some of the jerky and shove it in his mouth while Vax continued to talk. “I suppose we could go fishing, but that might require us to go back to the cave full of illithid we royally pissed off."

“No, we’ll have to backtrack to a different water source. Remember the one Keyleth found with the odd blind creatures? I could get us something to eat there. I was a relatively good fisherman once upon a time," Percy said through a mouth of jerky.

“Well, that’s good. We won’t starve, but we still need a safe place to sleep.”

“This place certainly isn’t safe to stay another night,” Percy muttered around a mouth full of jerky, starting to consolidate the supplies equally; most of Percy’s tinkering supplies would be of no use to Vax but the things that could be shared could mean the difference between life and death. Vax sat down next to where Percy was kneeling and started dividing up some of the dried meats.

“You make a pretty cute wolf, Vex and Keyleth are going to be delighted when they find out,” Vax said offhand, picking up a piece of jerky and popping it in his mouth.

Percy froze, before barking out a laugh. “Honestly, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. You I’m fine with knowing but- what if the Air Ashari think all werewolves are evil? It’s a common enough misconception. Keyleth could hate me, or worse, feel compelled to kill me. I couldn’t put her in that kind of position-”

“Percy don’t be ridiculous,” Vax said, sneaking jerky out of Percy’s portion and waving it at him. “Keyleth loves you. She thinks of you as family, nothing could ever change that.”

“Easy for you to say, you don’t have earth shattering secrets,” Percy nudged Vax in the arm and took food from his pile.

Vax froze, before sighing and leaning into Percy, “You’d be surprised.”

Percy furrowed his brows and glanced at Vax, before letting the moment go. “Well, when you’re ready to talk about them- I promise I’ll be here to listen.”

Vax looked at Percy. Percy looked at Vax. Then they were kissing again, this time rough and desperate now that Percy’s injuries were not of concern. The silk shirt was pulled back over Percy’s head, but this time Percy busied his fingers slipping loose the buckles of Vax’s armor at the same time, pulling the rogue along as as he leaned back.

“Your armor has too many buckles,” Percy grumbled, nipping at the skin of Vax’s neck that he freed from the armor. The armor wasn’t removed, but it had been loosened enough for Percy to work his hands underneath it touching every bit of skin he could reach as his mouth returned to Vax’s.

“Fuck, I know,” Vax laughed in response, trying to shrug out of the leather that was now almost completely open in the front. A situation that Percy took advantage of as his mouth wandered down the exposed skin, sucking hickies into it as Vax started grinding down into Percy’s lap. Not content to keep his hands to Vax’s chest, Percy wound his fingers into Vax’s long hair and displaced the metal helm so that it clattered off Vax’s head and onto the stone floor.

"Ų͜g͟h̴ ͡͏̵g̸̵͠r̕͠o̵͜s̸s̡͜,̴ ͜wh͟a̴͝ţ̛ ̧̛a̧r̷e̵̢ ͜t̸͜h̴e̢̛ ͏m͢a̶m҉ma͡ls ̶d͜͞oi̧̡n̷̸g͟͠?̷͜"̛ a voice ghosted into Vax’s mind, causing him to whirl around and clutch at one of the daggers that was still attached to his belt.

“Illithid,” Vax hissed to Percy as the carpet began to wobble and tip forward from the entry. Glancing between their various states of undress, Percy made a split second decision and shifted as he threw himself onto all fours in front of Vax, snarling at the intruders. In this form he always had a weapon, and he threw himself teeth first at the throat of the first illithid. There was a crunch beneath his canines as the taste of muddied catfish filled his mouth, making Percy’s lip curl in disgust as he whipped his head from side to side and tore out the throat (and a few tentacles) off the first illithid.

Intense pain blinded Percy as the second Illithid used a mind blast, but twin daggers struck at it’s eyes while it was distracted. Percy blindly ran forward and slammed into the second attacker, giving Vax time to either gather their things and run or make another attack. _Gods_ , he wished the whisper earrings worked in wolf form.

Percy used another bite attack, this time going for the midsection but as he clamped down he caught a figure moving behind the illithid, and then Vax was there dragging a dagger across the creature’s throat from behind.

His heightened senses didn’t register any other living creatures within the area so Percy shuddered and let his shift drop, heaving and spitting out illithid blood that had gotten in his mouth and that he almost swallowed.

A hand came to rest on his shoulder and Percy realized he was trembling. He looked up with a grin and wiped the blood from his mouth. Vax’s eyes tracked the movement as he offered a hand to pull Percy back to his feet.

“So that was badass,” Vax said, picking up Percy’s clothes and offering them back to the gunslinger.

“Definitely ruined the mood though,” Percy said wryly as he pulled his shirt and vest back on.

“The illithid, yeah, but the wolf transformation wasn’t exactly a deal breaker- wait that came out wrong,” Vax backpedaled.

Percy snorted and shrugged into his coat, smile taking over his face and completely transforming his features.

“Don’t worry, I’ve had years of practice translating from Vax’ildan to common,” Percy joked as he finished buttoning his coat. Turning around, Percy stifled another laugh behind his hand. Vax was struggling to match the right straps to the right buckles on the front of his leather armor. So far he managed to match three of them incorrectly, and somehow still closed the gap in the front.

“Let me help.” Percy shooed Vax’s hands away, deftly undoing the incorrect straps and affixing them correctly so the leather armor settled back over Vax’s torso like a second skin.

“How are you so good at that?”

“I’ve spent the last half year undressing you with my eyes whenever there was a spare moment,” Percy mentioned, sauntering over to where Bad News was on the ground and picking up the gun. Vax spluttered something in high pitched elven behind him, and Percy reminded himself to ask Keyleth for the meaning of the words he didn’t recognize.

Sighting down the barrel of Bad News, he deemed it serviceable for now but made a note to give the hammer a thorough cleaning to get rid of all the blood that had dried there. Taking out the sword he never used, Percy turned around and took a moment to scalp the illithid. “I seem to remember something about an agreement with a certain dwarf about payment for these?” Percy said to Vax as he stored the scalps as best he could, they would need the money to get back to Emon before the rest of Vox Machina did something spontaneous to try and rescue them.

Gathering up the rest of their supplies they departed from the cave. Vax’ildan proudly showing Percy what he learned the carpet could do as they left the cavern behind and ventured back through the Underdark.


	2. I Am Flesh and I Am Bone

The former duergar queen’s camp was eerie. Without anyone capable of casting light, Percy and Vax made do with a small lantern from Vax’s pack. Percy had machined a small amount of extra lamp oil from his tinkering supplies but it wasn’t going to last them long.

They decided it was better to avoid any magical traps that Queen Ulara might have laid with her dying breath than chance injuries they could not afford. That meant skirting around the camp on the magic carpet. It was easier said than done.

Vax reclined on the carpet, flipping a dagger end over end to keep from being bored. One slip nicked open his finger, prompting Vax to sheath the dagger with an exaggerated sigh. Clearly he was getting lax in his practice if he couldn’t even perform that simple trick while his mind was occupied.

Percy wisely made no comment.

“This would be a lot easier if Vex were here,” Vax sighed again, mostly to himself.

“I agree, her knowledge of the Underdark would be useful,” Percy said in response, “But I’m glad you’re here.”

Vax sat up to see the cheesy smile Percy was giving him and looked away as a blush began to heat up his face.

“You’re just saying that to distract me from missing my sister,” Vax accused, crawling forward on the carpet.

Percy’s drawl sounded especially sarcastic as he answered, “Of course not, would I do that?”

“I think that you would,” Vax answered, a predatory grin breaking out over his face as he kissed one of the love bites he had left on Percy’s neck.

“Vax stop, I’m driving,” Percy scrunched his nose and tried to shoulder Vax away. “One of us should be keeping watch for illithid.”

“I don’t think they like the field of bones. If memory serves me, we’ll be passing over that soon,” Vax kissed Percy’s earlobe, “I’m sure you would sense something coming if we were in danger.”

“My senses aren’t foolproof Vax,” Percy said, flicking Vax’s forehead with a finger, “I can be distracted just like anyone else. You happen to excel at distracting me.”

“I’d like to distract you more, but perhaps now is not the time,” Vax said, voice shifting to a lower octave as he spoke, pointing at the approaching bone field. “Do you see the path that Pike carved? It’s been disturbed.”

Percy peered ahead, slipping his glasses up to use his own keen sight. The bones themselves emitted an ethereal glow that gave Percy just enough light to see that the Pike’s path had been crisscrossed by something.

“Right you are, Vax if you wouldn’t mind getting into a more balanced position. We don’t want to tip off the carpet and into the bones. I’ve had quite enough of falling.”

Daggers drawn, Vax nodded and crept away from Percy, searching for whatever had caused the destruction of Pike’s path.

“We should find a stable high position to fight from, we can’t afford to split our attention between flying the carpet and fighting,” Vax said. Nimble fingers tightened on the grip of his daggers, boots already clicked and their magic filling his frame with adrenaline and anticipation. Percy nodded his assent, but kept searching over the field for signs of an ambush.

“If Vex were here, I think she’d say the _thing_ that made those marks was dragging its body across the cave,” Vax continued. There were only a handful of creatures he could think of that made those kind of trails- but neither a naga or a wyvern would be down here.

The answer came suddenly, as a roaring screech echoed around the cavern. A gross mass of white flesh lurched across the cavern like a blind snake from an abandoned building to their left, its bug like limbs stitched together in a mockery of a body. The undulating mass of necrotic white flesh was horrifying, but more horrifying was that the creature had the face of Queen Ulara.

“Fuck! I thought she was the one making those vile things!” Vax yelled. The carpet swerved under Percy’s control and Vax held on with one hand.

“I’m pretty sure that was K’varn.”

“Didn’t we kill him?”

“Apparently not soon enough.”

Vax threw a dagger into the mass of flesh, the blade sinking into the creature with a sick _thwunk_. From the wound, a crack of dim red filtered through the creature’s skin. This monster was clearly in an entirely different class from its predicessors.

“Be careful, it’s got some sort of magic!” Vax yelled, readying more daggers in his hands.

Bad News fired at the creature’s head, missing it and taking a chunk out of the withers instead. The flesh tore away from the shoulder as Percy fired multiple times in a row, an orange glow seeping out of the wound.

“Noted!” said Percy belatedly.

Glowing blood leaked sluggishly from the wounds Percy caused, each drip hitting the ground with a hiss like water hitting heated metal. The bones rolled away from the creature’s path as it advanced towards the carpet.

The eerie visage of the former queen opened its mouth and a slew of molten gunk spewed forth, spattering across the cavern and almost reaching the carpet.

“Is she vomiting lava?” Vax asked, looking slightly green around the ears and shaking slightly as he picked another dagger from his belt.

“I think so.”

“Well, that’s new,” Vax said, feeling faintly sick.

Percy took another shot while Vax waited for his daggers to re-appear at his belt. The next crater Percy created in the creature blasted out a chunk of its neck, scattering gore that glistened and glowed across the field of bone. The chunks seeming to undulate in the sea of animated undead remnants.

“That’s definitely lava,” Vax said faintly.

His injured leg throbbed as if it knew the source of its pain was near. The way the molten material had burned right through his skin to cling to his bones was fresh in his mind as he threw more daggers, each of them missing the target due to how much his hands had started to shake.

“Vax are yo-” Percy was cut short as a burst of lava flew towards the front of the carpet barely missing his hand. “Fuck!”

What remained of Queen Ulara reared up in the front of the carpet, mouth wide open like a cobra ready to spit. It left an opening wide enough for Percy to grab Pepperbox and shoot an icy bullet down her throat. There was a muffled shriek and the monster thrashed, knocking into the gunslinger and sending him flying across the field of bones.

Vax’ildan stood frozen in fear as the carpet started to sink through the air without Percy at the helm. The glowing maw of the creature had split open wider with Percy’s shot and the roiling lava inside bubbled and popped past the creature’s teeth.

Three shots rang into the air as the creature’s head cracked to the side, lava now dripping out of the new exit wound Percy’s bullets had made in the side of the monster’s cheek.

Percy’s actions were enough to shock Vax out of his daze. Ignoring the fear he felt for the lava. He took a step forward and tested the springiness of the slowly sinking carpet. Satisfied that it was enough for what he wanted to do, Vax sprinted forward.

Springing off the end of the carpet, Vax dug his daggers directly into the monster's throat as he landed, both anchoring into the flesh. Swinging off of them, he delivered a hard kick to the monster's head, third dagger out and scoring down the neck as Vax slid down towards the sea of bones.

Bone fingers rose from the sea to grab at Vax’s ankle but he paid them no mind, dodging to the left with another dagger in the creature’s neck as the monster slammed its body down where he had been. Dust rose into the air from the impact. It triggered a cough that wracked Vax’s body at just the wrong time. The spasm was too much to keep his grip on his dagger, and he fell from the creature. Glass and bone fragments pierced into the exposed skin wherever it touched as he landed badly on his shoulder. Wincing, Vax rolled to his feet and looked up at the abomination.

 _It looks a lot bigger from down here_ , Vax thought in a moment of clarity as the monster swung out at him with spindled limb.

Glass and bone shifted under his boots. The sensation of losing traction against the ground gripped Vax and he staggered sideways, slipping sideways on a shard of glass at the last moment.

Vax fell back, using the momentum of his slip to duck behind a crumbled piece of wall near Pike’s path.

“Percy? Are you alright?” Vax called out.

“I’ve been better!” Percy’s yell echoed across the cavern. Listening for a moment, Vax’ildan almost pinpointed where Percy was from the sound, only for a cacophony of noise to slam into him as the head of the creature curled around the broken wall to screech right in his face.  

Vax screamed in response, jumping instinctually away from the noise.

The monster stopped, remnants of its face drawing together in response.

“That’s right you bitch!” Vax yelled in her face. Maybe if it worked for Scanlan, it would work for him. Or at least it would give him an edge. Vax slipped four daggers into his hands, sending them all flying at once into the creature’s face as he jumped back from the stream of lava he had provoked from it’s mouth.

Each dagger sunk into the beast’s flesh, but it continued forward and slammed it’s fanged jaws down into Vax’s exposed arm before he could roll out of the way, teeth easily piercing and holding the flesh as lava leaked onto his arm and burned through his undershirt.

“Mother of a shit-” Vax gasped. Everything in his field of view went spotty as pain broke through the shock. Molten rock beginning to cool where it had dribbled onto his arm.

The monster swung Vax into the wall with its hold, stunning him.

“Vax’ildan!” Percy shouted, immediately tossing Bad News onto his back and sprinting forward at the sound of his cry, his wolf form coming easier than it had in years as he bounded forward to slam into the monster's side. The momentum carried it into the wall as well, and Percy clamped his jaws around the broken part of the monsters jaw. With a little pressure, he was able to rip it off of Vax. It immediately reared back but Percy went for the face again, positioning himself in front of Vax’s prone form. With an ease that scared him, Percy clamped his jaws around the former duergar queen’s face, fury blinding him to the searing sensation on his gums as the creature’s burning blood filled his mouth.

The monster slammed its head into him again, and Percy skidded across the floor. Claws catching easily on the bone sea as he sprinted back to the monster, keeping its attention off of the injured Vax’ildan.  

Percy jumped onto the monster, letting his form shift and shooting his pepperbox into its face twice, reloading before shifting back into his wolf form and jumping into the bones. The process was reminiscent of a hide-and-seek game he used to play with his siblings, though they had never played with stakes this high.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Vax again; his dark form sat slumped over and unmoving against the wall. A growl ripped free from deep in his chest as dark blue- nearly black eyes sought out the monster responsible in the dark. It hurt Vax. This monster had brutalized Vax; _his Vax._ His blood boiled in anger at the thought. Fury surged beneath his skin until he could barely contain it. Wisps of black smoke began to rise from his paws and spill out of his mouth as he raced forward and clawed his way up the monster’s back. Honed claws found their purchase cratered skin at the monster's neck as Percy shifted once again into human form. His blunt fingers dug beneath the white flesh where claws had been moments before to grip bone and steady himself along monster’s back.

Slipping Bad News off his shoulder with one hand, Percy aimed directly into the base of the monster's skull where he thought Queen Ulara’s skull attached to the rest of the monster and pulled the trigger.

His footing started to slip as the monstrous form listed, crashing down into the field of bone. The creature was still and the reverberations of the impact scattered around the cavern.

As the cacophonous noise echoed into silence, Percy slid down the creature's back. Being careful to avoid the trails of lava-like blood, Percy stood and looked around for the wall where Vax had been left. It was less than thirty feet away.

“Vax? Vax’ildan!” Percy yelled, each heartbeat pounding in his chest as he ran back to the wall where Vax had fallen.

The bones had risen up around the rogue, as if trying to swallow and assimilate him into the sea of undead remains. Even from meters away he could see the lines of blood drawn by shards that were driving themselves beneath the rogue’s skin.

Closing his eyes, Percy thought of Pike and of her goddess Sarenrae. Since his family had been murdered Percy hadn’t put any stock in the gods, but for Vax’ildan he was willing to make an exception.

Kneeling down to pull Vax from the sea of bone and glass, Percy gathered all of his remaining energy and began to beg. “Sarenrae, I know I haven’t always been the most.... virtuous of people, but Vax doesn’t deserve to die here after trying to protect me. I’m not worth that.”

Taking the borrowed gauntlet off his own arm, Percy tried to manipulate his remaining energy the way he had seen Pike process healing spells and place it back on the badly burnt flesh of Vax'ildan's arm. The leather slipped easily onto the arm and a faint glow pulsed in time with the sluggish beats of Vax’s heart.

Gathering up Vax in his arms, Percy walked away from the monster without giving it a second glance and carried Vax into one of the more solid looking houses to lay him down, away from the sea of glass and bone. Taking a strip of leather from his tinkering kit, Percy tied Vax’s hair back from his face.

“I will be right back,” he promised to the unmoving form of his friend, turning on his heel and walking back to look for the carpet.

It wasn’t hard to find, and it seemed the carpet had been fighting the bone to keep from being dragged under the current.

“I’m sorry about that, it couldn’t be helped,” Percy said to the carpet, climbing on top of it and getting back in a position where he could drive. For a moment the carpet refused to move and Percy sighed. “The whole affair was completely unintentional, I swear to you. Now please move, unless you want Vax’ildan to die,” Percy said to the carpet, feeling ridiculous for trying to persuade it in the first place. Nevertheless, the carpet shuddered and then rose into the air, lifting Percy out of the sea of bones.

“Thank you,” Percy said reluctantly after a moment. Perhaps the carpet _was_ sentient. It warranted further study at least- at a later date. Preferably one when they weren't underground and fighting for their lives.

Vax was tossing restlessly against the stone floor of the structure where Percy had left him, and the carpet seemed to shudder before coming to a stop right next to him.

“Vax?” Percy called out, immediately dropping to his knees beside the writhing figure and looking for the source of the agony Vax seemed to be in. “Hey Vax look at me, where does it hurt the most?”

“That thing you did with the transforming and then shooting her in the face? That was cool. Saw a bit of it, bad vantage point though,” Vax said after taking a shuddering breath.

“Vax’ildan…”

“I’m _fine_ Percy, I’ve taken a bath in lava two times in less than a week.”

“Please let me look at your arm.”

“Oh, so I still have one of those, brilliant,” Vax let go of where he’d been cradling the arm to his stomach.

Taking the lightly burnt hand in his shaking one, Percy turned it over spread his fingers over the damage with all the gentleness he possessed. There were blisters, but the charred deep burns Percy expected to be revealed as he carefully removed the gauntlet were gone. Instead Vax’s arm showed an expanse of blemished but whole skin. Marveling, Percy ran his fingers up and down Vax’s forearm. There were lines of scars mottling the skin where the lava had been but all other trace of it was gone.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Percy said breathlessly, swaying slightly as leftover adrenaline fled his body and all of his beastial shifts caught up with him all at once.

Vax sat up and steadied Percy with his other arm, “Okay Percy, what did you do?”

“Nothing bad! Though I might have overdone it,” Percy smiled weakly, “It was the first time I actually tried to use magic.”

“You? You cast magic? Are you sure?” Vax teased, pulled Percy over so they could both lean against the wall.

“I’ve still got a trick or two up my sleeve. Just because I’ve started telling you my secrets doesn’t mean you know all of them yet.”

“I’d like to learn them,” Vax said, leaning over to press a kiss to the side of Percy’s face. He immediately made a face.

“What’s that for?” Percy teased back, leaning his head against Vax’s should and enjoying the moment.

“You smell like sulfur,” Vax complained, laughing when Percy subconsciously started rubbing at his face with his ascot.  

“Can’t be helped I’m afraid,” Percy said, taking his waterskin and offering it to Vax before taking a swig of it himself.

“Oh so your mouth doesn’t always taste like that?” Vax snickered while Percy just rolled his eyes. For a moment he just enjoyed the overwhelming relief that Vax was awake and recovering in leaps and bounds if his mood was anything to go by.

“We should rest,” Percy suggested after a moment. The cavern was still like a lake outside, the sea of bones not responding to their proximity inside the building.

“But the rations-”

“Damn the rations Vax, they’re no good to us if you tip forward into a crevasse because you’re injured and won’t slow down for a few hours,” Percy said wiping away a drip of water that had fallen from the corner of Vax’s mouth. “Take a short rest Vax, it’ll make me feel better,” Percy asked, shedding his own gear and trying to convince Vax to move into a more comfortable position. The gunslinger managed to prop Vax up and slide behind him, cushioning the stiff- and likely bruised, shoulder from the stone wall.

“Just half an hour,” Vax confirmed, leaning into the soft touch of Percy untying his hair and combing out the strands. Glass shards and bone dust clinked against the floor as Percy started working them free of the dark hair.

“Mhmm, certainly. Try to stay awake long enough for me to pick out these glass shards,” Percy hummed. He’d already decided to let Vax sleep for as long as possible once he lost his tenuous grasp on consciousness.

“S’not my fault if I fall asleep while you’re playing with my hair,” Vax protested, curling onto his uninjured side. The movement caused more shards to be dislodged and Percy plucked them from his coat and started flicking them across the room.

“Of course,” Percy said, completely absorbed in his current task. Smaller shards of glass cut into his own fingers as he removed them. Each mistake brought a tiny bead of blood to the surface but no pain registred as he continued to comb out Vax’s hair with his fingers. He braided each clean section of hair away from Vax’s face. His hair had kept most of the shards away from Vax’s scalp, but there were still pieces of glass embedded in the back of his neck.

Dried blood had gathered around each shard and flaked off with each movement. It made spotting the shards easier, but Percy was uneasy about the possibility of an infection developing down here with no course of treatment besides his own unreliable skill with cure wounds.

The air in the crumbling home circulated slowly like the breeze off a lake, carrying the sound of Vax’s breath slowing and deepening into sleep. It sounded like music to Percy’s ears as he continued to piece Vax back together.

 

* * *

 

Hours later Vax woke to the gentle dimness of the room. Recent events took their time trickling back into his mind as his body cataloged all his aches and pains. His injured side was warm and pressed against what he guessed was Percy. “Mmmm, what time is it?” he asked, sitting up so he could face Percy.

“You’ve only been asleep for half an hour,” Percy said smoothly, setting aside a device he’d been tinkering with.

Grinning, Vax elbowed Percy. “I know you’re lying, I bet you let me use you as a pillow for _hours_!”

“You have no proof of that,” Percy said back, a serious look on his face only contradicted by the glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

A cut had opened on Vax’s cheek with that smile and Percy reached over to wipe the drop of blood away.

Vax pulled the hand away from his cheek and brought it in front of his face. “What are these?” he asked, inspecting the multitude of tiny cuts covering Percy’s fingers.

“They’re nothing,” Percy said trying to pull his hand free.

“Hold on-” Vax said, keeping a firm hold on Percy’s hand and tilting it in the low light. Dozens of tiny silver scars dotted Percy’s fingertips and palms, with another dozen fresh cuts on top of those. “These weren’t here before.”

Heat bloomed underneath Percy’s collar as Vax carefully inspected his fingers. No longer trying to pull them away, Percy tried to come up with something to say as he felt the blush rise up to his face.

Moments passed.

A few seconds later, his brain settled for blurting out something, _anything_ to stop being preoccupied by the short distance from his fingers to Vax’s mouth.

“Wolves don’t wear shoes,” Percy blurted out. Vax just raised an eyebrow at Percy, giving him an odd look.

Percy cleared his throat awkwardly, “Sorry, let me explain better. The floor of the cave was covered in glass and bone and various sharp things that are unpleasant to step on but I wasn’t thinking during the fight so…” he trailed off. “And those healed when I regained my proper form so it wasn’t even an annoyance.”

The look Vax shot him was skeptical and slightly worried, “And the new cuts?”

Percy sighed and huffed for a second, averting his eyes from Vax’s. “Those… _may_ have been incurred while picking glass out of your hair. Perhaps I did not pay the utmost degree of attention during that task.” He offered a shy smile, “I found myself distracted.”

“Oh,” Vax looked like he was about to say something more and then stopped. A slow grin spread over his face as he noticed the redness around Percy’s ears. “I’d like to distract you more,” Vax replied. Rolling onto Percy’s lap, Vax steadied himself with his knees straddling across Percy’s legs. Belts and ammo pouches pressed into the soft inner side of his thighs through his leathers.

“I believe that can be arranged,” Percy said, taking off his glasses and laying them aside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who isn’t there yet, Percy later takes the Magic Initiate feat and gains access to Hex, Minor Illusion, and Friends. For the sake of story narrative that didn’t come out of nowhere so Percy’s first act of magic was a desperate attempt at Cure Wounds.


	3. Try Not To Feed The Fear Within

“I wish Scanlan was here.”

“That’s an odd thing to say after sex,” Percy laughed, fingers snagging a leather of a boot off the floor and flinging it at Vax’s head.

Vax deftly caught the boot one-handed with his good arm, unable to wipe the post-coital satisfied smirk off his face to appear serious for more than a few seconds. “Hear me out! If Scanlan were here we could both take a nap.”

“You just woke up, Vax,” Percy laughed. In the dim light of the cavern he skimmed his hand over the floor until his fingers found the familiar shape of his glasses and set them back on his face.

“But I’m sure you’re exhausted,” Vax’s voice dripped with satisfaction. The sound of it made the beast under Percy’s skin curl.  

Percy hummed noncommittally, but the smile on his face was all the answer Vax needed. Percy grabbed another piece of leather armor off the floor and looked at it. “Did I throw you my boot or your boot?”

“Your boot, I was wondering how long it would take you to notice,” Vax offered the boot back balanced on one finger.

“Cheeky,” Percy snorted.

Taking the boot, he piled it next to his other armaments.

“And my coat back?” Percy requested.

Vax pulled the coat closer around his shoulders, “Mmm, why don’t you come over here and take it from me?”

Percy raised one eyebrow. “Is that a challenge?” Vax noticed a gleam in Percy’s eyes- one that he had started associating with really stupid ideas- or fun ones, depending on the situation.

“Yes, I think it is,” Percy shifted onto his knees. Slinking forward just as he would in wolf form- the movement fluid from years of practice.

Vax realized this may have been something akin to a mistake as Percy put a hand on his thigh. Blue eyes reflecting all of the light in the cavern, some of it glinting off the gunslinger’s predatory smile.

“Do I get to surrender?” Vax breathed out, pulling Percy up for a kiss.

 

* * *

 

Percy shut his eye for a few moments- just to rest them.

And began to snore.

Vax stifled a chuckle, running his fingers through Percy’s sweat dampened fringe. Truthfully he wasn’t tired any longer, though he wished they were in safer circumstances. Grabbing the blue coat from behind him, Vax spread it over Percy’s form. A soft kiss was pressed to Percy’s black brow, ghosting over a small cut there.

Getting dressed in his own clothes, Vax decided to walk over to where Percy had left Bad News and the Pepperbox. Both guns were in poor condition, Percy had given the weapons a rudimentary cleaning - probably while Vax was asleep. Taking one of the guns in hand, Vax flicked open the barrel and emptied the List of bullets. It took one or two good knocks to get them free, which gave Vax an idea of how much attention Percy had cleaned the weapon with.

Taking the cloth he used to clean his daggers, Vax sat down next to the lantern and started cleaning and polishing the weapon inside and out. Percy would need to re-oil certain areas later, but for now it would do to get the dried blood out from all of the cracks and delicate filigree work of the stock.  

Putting the bullets back in, Vax clicked the barrel back and sighted down the pistol. It looked in order, but there was no way to be certain but to fire it. That definitely wasn’t happening anytime soon.

Taking Bad News into his lap, Vax emptied the rifle of bullets, taking care to also remove the one from the chamber, and setting each of them to the side. One of these days he would have to ask Percy more about how the ammo was constructed. His knowledge of the guns only came from previous watches taken together where Percy had gone through the very same motions that Vax was doing now.

The barrel was too long for Vax to clean with just the cloth, but a combination of the cloth and one or two thieves tools provided the perfect reach. Tipping the barrel back to look into it, Vax decided it was clean enough.

That’s when the rifling inside the barrel caught his eye. It curved and scored along the inside like a screw. That must be what gave the gun’s cloud of smoke it’s distinctive swirl.

That… that gave Vax an idea.

Leaning over and grabbing Percy’s notebook from his supplies, Vax opened it and began scribbling down the idea on a fresh page with one of the charcoal nubs Percy kept on hand for this type of situation. Within a few more minutes, Vax had down the basics of a schematic that would allow the gases to disperse from the end in a different way.

With any luck, it would make the gun quieter. Percy could look it over and decide if it was worth building later.

Laying the open notebook aside, Vax went back to cleaning the rifle. It used up a portion of their supplies, but leaving Percy without his favourite defence was out of the question.

By the time Vax was finished, every piece of metal shone under the lamplight. Reloading the gun carefully, he set it aside. Fingers brushing unconsciously against the deep groves Percy had worn in the reload mechanism, doubtless they were from jamming bullets into the gun during the heat of battle.

Percy was always rushing, always doing something to get ahead or keep up with the rest of the group. Vax’s eyes sought his pale form in the cavern. His face was completely relaxed in sleep. A rare moment of Percy being entirely at peace. He never seemed to slow down and rest- well, Vax would just have to be make certain Percy did that more often.

Thinking of Percy, Vax pressed a fingertip to his own sore lips. He hadn’t expected quite the level of enthusiasm from Percy, given how reserved he appeared.

 

* * *

 

“What’s this?” Percy asked after he finished pulling his shirt over his head, and moved to pick up the open journal.

“Wait a minute, this…” Percy went silent for a moment and then picked up the discarded charcoal and began scribbling on the page. “And if I do this-” he hummed, sticking the charcoal point between his teeth to sharpen it, black marking across his lips as he did so.

Vax shifted his weight to his other foot before he spoke, “I thought it would make Bad News quieter.”

A few more seconds of scribbling and Percy snapped the book shut and looked directly at Vax. Pinning him down with an intense gaze that mirrored the one he’d worn earlier, “You’re a genius.”

“Excuse me?” Vax said out of surprise.

Percy dropped, and tucked the journal into his belt, and advanced on Vax, “You, Vax’ildan, are a secret genius.” He pulled Vax by his shoulders and kissed roughly into his tender lips.

“It’s brilliant,” he pulled away to pant briefly in Vax’s ear before immediately consuming him with another kiss. Vax wrapped his arms around Percy’s neck and surged up on his tiptoes so Percy wasn’t bent over him any longer.

“I should have ideas more often if this is your reaction to them,” Vax smiled, hiding his face in Percy’s neck.

Percy nipped at the tip of Vax’s ear, causing the half-elf to blush darkly before pulling away.

“Unfortunately, we must be on our way,” Percy said, giving Vax a final kiss on the cheek. “I can’t wait to get home and get started on that design- and see everyone else of course.”

“Of course,” Vax laughed, swatting Percy away. “Finish getting dressed.”

Outside of the ruined building, the bone cavern was quiet. Vax stuck to the shadows moving forward to survey what was left of the abyssal abomination.

Most of the flesh had been melted away by the creature’s toxic blood, but a few bones remained. Nothing else looked like anything he could salvage. “Hey Percy, do you want to check this for anything useful? Maybe you can make something that, I don’t know, blows up from this?”

Percy’s snort was audible from inside the house. “I’m sure I could, but I don’t have anything safe to carry the blood in.”

“Not even one glass vial?” Vax teased lightly.

“None that have survived my recent tendency to crash into the earth repeatedly,” Percy said as he walked out of the house. The lantern was tied to his waist, illuminating the cavern around him. “Besides, it looks as if most of the blood has corroded into the ground or evaporated… maybe it cooled and solidified,” Percy hummed lightly.

“Okay, okay, survey now, tinker later,” Vax teased.

“I think you mean scout,” Percy rolled his eyes.

“Hmmm? What?”

“Just get on the carpet, Vax,” Percy chuckled.

“Imagine how fucked we would have been if we had been stranded without the carpet,” Vax said as he stepped onto the familiar woven designs of the flying carpet.

“Probably less _fucked_ than you are now,” Percy joked. A shout of laughter echoed off the cavern walls as Vax threw his head back.

“Scanlan will never believe me when I tell him you made that joke,” Vax lamented, after his laughter subsided.

"Why do you think I told it?"

They were on their way back to the surface once again, for once completely on the same page.

 

* * *

 

Unfortunately, it didn’t last for long.

“I’m telling you if we take this tunnel we can bypass the entire Emberhold which we _flooded_ with _lava_!” Vax emphasized his whisper to the point where it bordered on the beginning of a shout.

“Vax, there’s no way you could know that.”

“It couldn’t hurt to try!” Vax insisted.

“Yes, yes it absolutely could hurt. We could run into a herd of bulettes, or any number of nasty things we’ve yet to encounter down here. Vex’ahlia isn’t here to warn us of incoming aberrations. We have to play it safer than that.”

“By flying right into the middle of a city we destroyed!” Vax shouted.

“Technically we only destroyed the Emberhold keep,” Percy countered.

Vax continued on, a slight edge to his tone, “Scanlan killed their king! We upended their entire governmental system. They’ll kill us on sight.”

“That would imply that they’ve managed to reorganize enough to put out an effective kill order, which is highly unlikely,” Percy said, keeping his tone even.

So of course, the conversation escalated.

“Why are you being so stubborn!” Vax groaned.

Percy turned around, pulling the carpet up short, “Well, why are you so afraid to go back there!”

Vax sat back on the carpet as if he’d been slapped.

“I’m not afraid.” Vax said quietly.

Percy sighed and pushed his glasses back up his nose. “That was uncalled for, I’m sorry. You don’t have to explain it to me but I’m almost sure it’s the only way we’re going to get home. We’ll just have to rely on stealth more than usual.” Tactfully he didn’t mention the reason why Vax was afraid to go back there. Almost losing one’s limb to lava would make anyone wary of the way the tunnel’s temperature was steadily increasing in heat.

He sighed, "Vax, if you feel that strongly about it, we can try and find a different way."

"I don't think we're getting through that anyway," Vax said, pointing to the pillar of stone blocking the rest of the tunnel.

Well fuck.

 

Percy flew the carpet into an alcove-like tunnel that meandered away from the path they had taken here, using his advanced hearing to keep a watch out for tunnels with different echo qualities. Bigger tunnels, tunnels had different air flows, he had been using them so far to get them back to the Emberhold, he had to hope that it could also lead them around it.

Their original route had proved to be impassible without Keyleth or Tibs to remove the stone pillars that had been smashed into tunnels to cover their escape from the duergar, but it was dangerous to try and traverse new territory, especially with two people. This was the only alternative Percy could think of.  

He just hoped that the rest of the team hadn’t been able to get back to the Underdark yet. It would be much easier to find them if they stayed put on the surface.

Of course, that was usually the advice they gave to the person that got lost, not the people that searched for them. It was too late to stay put, they would have died. Surely the rest of the team had to know that?

 

"I don't like this."

"Neither do I."

The tunnel walls echoed their words back to them and left Percy wondering if any of these lava tubes reached the surface. There had to be a volcano or something… somewhere. There was no telling where they would emerge to the surface, though, they could end up at the bottom of the sea.

They continued on in silence, Percy listening for the best route. He cocked his head abruptly, trying to locate something. “Catch the carpet,” Percy shouted, exploding outwards into a ball of white fur.

With his enhanced hearing, Percy further pinpointed the sound. It was a fluttering from beneath him. But there was something else, beneath it. Like a hiss.

Vax scrambled to grab the front of the carpet, “Percy what is it?”

“Percy come on you have to- ooofh,” Vax started to say but Percy flicked a fluffy white tail in front of his mouth.

A horde of small bats swarmed over the carpet, passing them to continue further up the tunnel. They brought with them a shrieking noise that blocked out the rest of the sounds that Percy could hear, his ears pinning back as he waited for swarm to pass. It only took seconds for them to clear out and continue on.

Standing up and leaning forward, Percy looked down into the depths of the tunnel. On the edge of his visual range, he noticed the tunnel turning whiter. Damn colorblind darkvision.  
  
He quite literally barked out a swear, letting the change bleed from him as fast as possible.

“Go up, go up!” he yelled.

“Wait, what?” Vax yelled back.

“Follow the bats!”

Vax started to steer the carpet up at a sharp angle, both of them holding onto the front edge of it to avoid falling off. “Why are we doing this?” Vax yelled over the sound of the bats.

“Because the bats know a way out, and also the tunnel might be filling with lava,” Percy shouted back. With one hand he managed to hook a strap between both of their belts. It probably wouldn’t help in a bad crash, but if one of them slipped off this made him feel better about their chances.

“What the fuck do you mean ‘might’?” Vax shouted back, they seemed to be shouting a lot today.

“Well, I wasn’t about to stick around to find out was I?” Percy snorted. They were both deflecting the seriousness of the situation with humor, which was certainly one way of dealing with things.

“Good Sarenrae, we’re going to die,” Vax said, squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his face into the soft surface of the now nearly vertical carpet.

“Being pessimistic is my job,” Percy countered.

“You’re fired,” Vax joked.

The carpet rushed after the bats, wind whistling past their ears as they rose through the tunnels. The echoing noises of the bats gave Percy a pretty vivid picture of the surrounding tunnel system.

“Hey, I’m going to take control okay? But don’t let go,” Percy patted Vax’s hand as the rogue scooted over.

Vax bit his tongue on the sarcastic comment he was about to spit out. It wouldn’t help the situation. He trusted Percy to try and get them both out. Get them home. Funny, when this whole thing started he thought he would be the one attempting dashing rescue maneuvers.  

Percy jerked the carpet to turn down the winding corridors of the lava tubes, the bubbling sound of the lava now audible to Vax’s own ears.

“Son of a fuck,” Percy swore, taking Vax’s hand and putting back on the control point of the carpet. “The bats dispersed into smaller tunnels, we’re either coming up on a plug in the tube or a ceiling.”

“You have a plan right?” Vax shouted, unsure where he should be steering the carpet.

Percy was gathering objects from his pack, tying them together. “Of a sorts,” he said, tying the bundle together.

The bundle contained the rest of their lamp oil, a rather explosive compound he was working on for Vex’ahlia’s arrows, and other volatile contents that he had on his person. It should explode on contact. Probably.

“I’m going to throw a bomb at the ceiling, and it's going to explode,” he said calmly.

“Oh well if that’s all,” Vax screeched in response.

There was a window of opportunity, and it was closing fast.

This was going to use all of his strength. If he miscalculated, they were dead seven different ways. As the ceiling got closer, Percy reeled his arm back and pitched the makeshift bomb as high as he could. It shot towards the ceiling with the augmented momentum from the carpet, exploding on contact, and sending a shockwave through the tunnel that almost knocked Percy off the carpet.

His ears rang, and then he was blind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who had the first part of this chapter ready like, a year ago and then got busy with graduation stuff. It's me. Extremely sorry about that.


	4. You're the Only Place I Call Home

God it was bright, he was never going to go drinking again.

Percy tried to pick himself up, but was quickly stopped by the pain shooting through his body. Whatever had happened, he wasn’t about to repeat it. Laying down was good, it was the smart option here.

Surely, Vax would agree with him.

Percy startled with a quick gasp, his lungs taking in the black ash around him before expelling it a series of bone wracking coughs. _He needed to find Vax._ What had happened? A blanket of fuzz clouded the mirror of his mind. They had been in the underdark. The tunnels. The bomb.

“Oh, please don’t let him be dead,” Percy pleaded. Letting the pain wash over him as he stood. He couldn’t smell anything except rich soil and volcanic ash. His vision was still spotted. Whether that was from the explosion or from being in the dark for so long was still up in the air.

He felt unstable ground shift under him, everything he could see was a dark rich earthy color. The same color as Vax’s eyes. Aside from the sky, it was like the universe had taken a palette from Vax and smeared it across the landscape.

Understandably, this made it difficult to try and find Vax. Or the carpet. Or any of the number of thing Percy needed to find. Needed, not wanted.

From what he could tell, they were inside the caldera of a dormant volcano. Percy realized with horror, if he was right about seeing lava filling up the tunnel behind them- it wasn't going to be a dormant volcano for much longer. 

He moved to begin searching the rest of the caldera for Vax, but tripped on the loose ash, his body instinctively shifting through the pain so he caught himself on his forepaws instead of on his face. This form might be better for searching for Vax anyway, so Percy stuck with the shift. He scrambled easily over the broken volcanic rock, ignoring the way pieces of pumice and obsidian dug into his paws. If the bone and glass sea hadn't bothered him, this wouldn't either. 

Heat and rock, the kind of heat that came from the sun beating down on a dark slab, were the only two things to meet his senses. They drowned out all other things as he searched. It felt like he could feel the heat rising from below his paws. Like sand through an hourglass, if the sand flowed upwards and was also lava. 

He needed to focus.

His eyes refused to co-operate with the sunlight, making him blink away spots as he struggled against the clock to find Vax.

He didn't have time for this. They didn't have time for this. Letting the transformation melt away, he scrabbled down the sloping slides of rock on his hands and knees.

“Vax!” He yelled out hoarsely, listening as it reverberated around the rocks.

“Vax’ildan!” he tried again, and again, there was no answer but his own echo.

Huffing, Percy turned away from the sunlight and pulled down his mask. Stupid, he should have thought of using the smoked lenses to protect his eyes in the first place. For fucks sake, since when was one little explosion was enough to send his common sense reeling.

He’d encountered more explosions in his life than he’d care to remember.

This took the cake, though, and Percy had to wonder if it was the explosion itself that sent his mind and senses whirling through time and space, or the fact that Vax’ildan was nowhere to be found.

It was easier to see through the shaded lenses, but each breath that was pulled from his lungs sound like gunshots in his ears. Vax had to be up here somewhere. The alternative was unthinkable. If he'd fallen off the carpet in the explosion, he would have fallen right into the lava. 

Percy scanned the shadows as he climbed up the sloped rock to the top edge of the caldera. Using the higher viewpoint to scan the rocks below.

There in the rocks he saw a swath of pitch black laid over grey, and next to it was the multicolored expanse of carpet. His breath caught in his chest and he was shifting and using his four legs to slide down the side of the volcano before he could release it. Four legs were better than two for skidding down the side of a volcano and not creating a rock slide neither of them had time to deal with.

“Vax!” he barked, literally, rolling his eyes as he shifted again. He was at his limit, trying to push himself anymore would result in the both of them being stuck unconscious on this literal, god forsaken rock and a hard place- or lava place, which would definitely be worse.

He heaved Vax onto his shoulder, thanking the gods for his higher than average strength in this moment. Percy carried him to the carpet, and gathered every piece of supplies he could scavenge in under a minute. He had precious little left of his main pack after scavenging almost everything that could explode for the bomb he'd created earlier.

Vax’ildan’s supplies were in slightly better shape.

If only he were awake.

Percival wasn’t much of a healer, he knew some things about herbs, how to set bones (usually his own) and he’d done magic a few times in his life. Usually under great duress, like right after the fight with Ulara.

He thought now more than qualified as ‘under great duress’, but didn’t waste time mourning the fact that he couldn’t focus long enough to do anything. He had to find them somewhere safe and away from the 'probably going to erupt in the next few hours' volcano. (He wasn't sure about that. For some reason, he didn't feel much like sitting around until he remembered the information from a book he'd read long ago to see if he was right about the estimate.)

They were still a long, long way from meeting back up with their family.

At least the carpet still worked, that was some small comfort.

They left the volcanic crater behind, not traveling too high in the air as they climbed up and over the rim of the caldera. If they went down again there was no guarantee they would both survive. Percy had no wish to fight the volcano and lose.

Fresh water was their most important goal, where there was water, there would likely be medical herbs- and food, really food was an afterthought.

The sunlight made it easy to spot a stream from about twenty meters in the air. That was good enough. There probably wouldn’t be any fish in a stream that small, but getting Vax’ildan healed, hydrated, and conscious was the only thing he cared about right now.

There was a lot of plant growth near the stream, that Percy ripped out of the ground to make a flat surface to lay Vax down on. He’d have to construct some kind of shelter later, so he set everything to the side instead of throwing it in all directions. The action cleared his mind somewhat. Vax was breathing. He’d likely be okay.

Percy kept that mantra in his head as he did what he could to set up camp with their limited supplies. A dry fire, one that wouldn’t send up too much smoke was his first order of business. There was plenty of dead wood around, but not a lot of heavy pieces.

Unless he took down an ailing tree, but he felt like that would attract more attention than it was worth. He was a werewolf, not a werebeaver. 

Digging through Vax’s pack yielded him a small cookpot, and Vax’s waterskin. He used the water he already knew was safe to coax Vax into taking a drink, and clean off a small gash on his head. The rushes made a soft platform. It wasn’t shelter but Percy trusted it to keep him off the ground and keep him from getting wet. For now.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, taking a minute to catch his breath.

He wanted to make things better. He wanted to fix things. He couldn’t protect Vax from everything. Couldn’t apply his skills in a way that made him safer. Unless he could make Vax wear a fucking helmet all the time, one that wouldn't fall off and get lost after an explosion, aka one Percy could design. Not that he could use any of his skills in this moment. 

Percy started a small fire, not noticing the way the spark leapt from his tinderbox moments before it was struck. When the fire was strong enough to boil water, he started doing it in batches.

Fill the pot, boil, wash the soot off of Vax, get him to take another drink. Rinse and repeat.

Once he had enough water to fill both of their skins, Percy lent forward until his forehead pressed against Vax’s chest. He could hear the breaths leave his body, in and out, in and out. It helped to calm him from the fevered pace he'd been keeping since they broke through the surface. 

There wasn't time for him to relax, someone had to keep watch. Gather herbs. Gather food. Build a shelter.

Naturally, he tried to do everything at once.

He gathered sticks to build a lean-to; setting up a basic frame for a shelter while he searched, then grabbing every plant that looked like it could be food or medicine. This was always Vex’ahlia’s area of expertise, and he’d somehow learned almost none of it over the years.

This wasn’t Whitestone, he didn’t know the plants here as well as he had from his time on the run there- hell, there were maybe two plants he was sure would help. One for swelling, the other for pain relief.

He hoped that would be enough. He mixed it with water and ground it as much as he could with river rocks, creating something to bring down swelling that Vax wouldn’t choke on and mixed it with more water. Coaxing his mouth open and letting it drip down a little at a time.

It wouldn’t do any good to drown him.

They were losing the light now, and Percy didn't have time to build a proper shelter.

“Sorry about this, friend,” he said as he manhandled the carpet over the small frame he’d built earlier. It was better than nothing. He weighed the carpet down with rocks, throwing a few more branches over the carpet for extra insulation.

The exhaustion hit him all at once, the world spinning around him and sending him tipping forward. He couldn’t faint. Not yet. He took a drink from the waterskins before setting them next to Vax’s head. If he woke he would at least have water. The packs with food he also brought into their shelter.

Was that everything?

He sighed, setting himself up against a tree, gun in his hand. Part of him wanted to shift back into his wolf form- but if he did, he was sure he would pass out. That wasn’t an option. He couldn’t _protect him_ if he was passed out.

He added another log to the fire, moving a stack of wood closer to him. All he had to do now is wait.

 

* * *

 

He’d dozed lightly, for a few minutes a time, until a few hours before sunrise.

“Perc-” he heard a rough call.

He was up and moving, gun set to the side in favor of grabbing the other medicines he’d made earlier.

“Don’t talk, where does it hurt? Okay, talk a little but don’t get carried away, you asshole.”

“Love you too, Percy.”

“Shut up, pain- where is it?”

“Side of my head.”

Percy nodded, taking some of the paste made to reduce swelling and gently applying it to the area. “I’ve got some willowbark too,” he said as mixed the ground medicine with some water.

He placed the waterskin in Vax’s hands, hovering in case it was dropped. “Drink it all.”

Vax rolled his eyes and huffed, but he followed orders without complaint.

The half-elf groaned, making a vague gesture. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“You were unconscious for over nine hours.”

“Semantics.” Vax poked percy in the side, “You look like shit.”

“Thank you, your confidence in me raises my soul to new heights.”

He wrinkled his nose. “You’re being wordy, you should sleep.”

“I can’t. You’re going to pass out in less than twenty minutes. Someone has to keep watch.”

Vax pulled the bedroll blanket up to his chin. “Ugh don’t be sensible and stubborn.”

“Can’t those are my middle names.”

“Sure thing Freddy,” Vax closed his eyes. “We’re on the surface right? It’s still dark.”

Percy slipped out of the shelter and walked back to where he’d left his gun. “That’s because it’s night.”

“Right,” he let out a jaw cracking yawn.

Percy leaned against his gun. “Go to sleep, love.”

 

* * *

 

“Percy.”

“Ngh, five more minutes.”

“Adorable, get up.”

“Vax, I’m exhausted.”

“Would you be less exhausted if I told you you’re very blurry right now?”

His eyes snapped open, lurching forward and almost falling straight into embers of last night’s fire. He left his gun in the dirt. Vax was sitting next to the fire, pulling tinder together and dropping them into the fire. He looked better, but his eyes were still unfocused.

Percy swallowed, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you’re there because I can see a white and blue blob. I know this is the fire, mainly because it’s warm and I can smell it. The rest is pretty,” he waved a hand in the air, “you know, up for interpretation.”

“That seems bad,” Percy took the wood out of Vax’s hand and arranged it into a happily roaring fire.

Vax shrugged, “Last night I couldn’t see anything at all, that’s why I asked if were on the surface. Now I’ve got colors and shapes. More of that anti-swelling tea and some time I think it’ll work itself out.”

“I’m glad you’re confident, I could try another healing spell?”

“Percy- no offense, but it’s less of a spell and more you being stubborn as hell until the world bends around you. Let’s leave it up to the professionals, yeah?”

“I could be a professional, give me two days and a library.”

Vax pat Percy’s head, smacking him lightly in the face and smudging his glasses. “I know you could.” He kneeled forward, knocking his hands around the edge of the fire. “Do we have any food?”

“Whatever’s left of your rations,” he pulled Vax’s rucksack closer and rummaged around in it to pull out the rest of the dried food, “Don’t do that. You’re going to stick your hand in the fire.”

“Things are blurry, I’m not blind.”

Percy rolled his eyes, pressing a strip of meat into Vax’s hand. “Eat that, I’ll rustle up something more edible in a second. Also,” he grabbed what was left of the willowbark and dumped it into the small pot, “drink that in ten minutes if I’m not back.”

He was right, the creek was too small for fish. But he did find several edible plants. Not that they would make a pleasant lunch, but anything fresh was welcome at this point.

What he wouldn’t do for a decent meal.

He tossed Vax some of the stalks that could be eaten without preperation, forgetting about his compromised vision as they sailed over the fire to nail him in the face.

Vax picked the stalk up from his lap and rubbed his nose.

“Am I being attacked by vegetables?”

“Yes, they’re very ferocious, you should eat them quickly while they’re subdued.”

“What exactly is it?”

“I think I have a better chance of getting you to eat them if I don’t tell you.”

It was wild asparagus and cattail stalks, but Percy didn’t think that was necessary information to share. Vax was of a wholly different opinion.

“This is gross.”

“It’s good for you.”

“Seriously, are you trying to poison me?”

Percy scoffed, “You and I both know I’d be much subtler if I was poisoning someone.”

“Is this asparagus?”

“Maybe.”

The wounded look Vax shot him was so genuine that Percy almost felt bad about it.

“Come here,” he sighed. His long fingers found purchase on Vax’s cheek, tilting his head up so he could press a kiss to his lips. Vax reciprocated by pulling Percy down by his lapels strong enough to make him stumble forward.

When they pulled away, Vax licked his lips and then gave a lascivious stare in Percy’s general direction. Mostly at his jacket. Which would be funnier looking back on it later.

“Well, if that’s how you’re going to wash the taste out of my mouth, I think I can manage.”

“Finish your vegetables, we need to get moving.”

 

* * *

 

They cleared the camp and set out on the carpet, erasing pretty much every trace of the camp they had made. The ashes cleared. The rushes disordered over the spot where they had rested. Well, where Vax had rested.

“You should nap. I can drive.”

“Yeah, I’d love to sleep and let you crash us right into a tree.”

“My sight’s getting clearer!”

“Sure, Vax.”

“We can rest when we get home.”

“Yes, and where is home from here?”

“I’m working on it.”

The map had been in Percival’s pack and had been summarily exploded with the rest of the flammable materials. Such is the price of a twenty second plan to blow something up. It had the annoying side effect of forcing them to start from square one when it came to navigating: aka follow a water source downstream and hope for the best.

The creek widened to a stream and then again to a decent sized river, churning muddy brown water over rough rocks stretched from one bank to another. It ran like a river in Whitestone would, swift and cold, fed by a mountain’s runoff.

Which also meant, there were probably fish in the stream. Something fresh to eat was awfully tempting.

“Do you want to stop and find more food?”

“Is it dusk?”

“No, closer to noon.”

“Then don’t stop. We might run into a town before then; I wouldn’t hate having a bed tonight.”

“That’s wishful thinking if I ever heard it.”

Turned out that it was. They didn’t find anything. Didn’t see so much as a ranger trail marker. Not many animals either. Just undergrowth full of rushes and cattails. The few animals they had seen had picked their way down to the river and bolted as soon as they were done taking a drink. Which left them without much of a chance to grab food. 

The carpet slowed as Percy applied the brakes, pulling up on the front.

“Please tell me that we are stopping for the night.” Vax rolled over on the carpet so that he was facing the sky. “I’m tired of being cooped up.”

“We’re flying through the air, this is about as not cooped up as you can get.”

“Stop being rational and let me be dramatic.”

Percy rolled his eyes. “By all means, would you like to start from the top again? Do you need me to feed you a line? ‘Oh Percy, we’ve been traveling for hours’ something like that?” He pitched his voice into a gravely tone to imitate Vax.

“If I had a pillow, I would be throwing it at you right now.”

“And you’d probably miss.”

“That’s just rude.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The carpet drew to a stop in a clearing with a sharp slope into the river around swirling eddies, creating a sheltered cove where fish would likely be lurking. If they were going to find anything, this was the best spot they’d found so far.

Percy hopped off the carpet, relishing the feeling of grass under his boots. Solid ground. For a brief moment, he wanted to roll around in it.

So he did exactly that and melted into his secondary form before he hit the ground. He’d been holding himself back all day, he'd wanted to use his wolf form to scout for a way home. To take to the ground and just run until they were back where they belonged. 

He wanted to go home, not just to Vox Machina, but he wanted to go back to Whitestone.

Wanted to show Vax’ildan the sloping fields and sharp white mountains, introduce him to his family- the family that vampires had taken from him.  

“Perc, love, you’re adorable and all but we could do without the growling,” Vax said offhand. He was walking around the campsite and delegating spots for things. Years of living alongside Vex’ahlia had given Vax a vastly superior skill set to Percy’s more limited camping capabilities. The skills made up for the fact that his senses were less than sharp.

Percy shook his head from side to side. He had bigger fish to fry.

Well, catch.

He waded into the shallow eddy and stood stock still, nary a twitch to betray his stance. As a sniper he could hold still for hours lining up the right shot. In a battle that skill was less used, though no less honed.

His senses could pick the fish all around him, just out of his reach. A shadow in the water there, the sound of rippling over a fin that brushed too close to the surface. Until one was finally in reach.

He snapped forward and sunk his teeth into a fish before it could dart away. Wuffing softly, he flung it back onto the bank a good distance. One wasn’t going to do it. Hopefully, Vax would take things from there. If not, it probably wasn't going to make its way back into the river. 

Another wait, another fish. Then once more for good measure.

Content with the offerings, he rolled himself over in the water. Paddling out to the middle of the river and swimming around in a circle. The few fish that strayed close to him were snapped away lazily, though he didn’t catch any more of them, it would have been wasteful.

“Percy! If you’re done playing, I’m putting the fish on the fire now.”

He snorted, water dripping from his muzzle.

And then he got an idea.

Percy trotted up the bank to the campsite until he was close enough to butt his nose into Vax’s side.

Then he shook, shedding the water from his coat in a wide circle around his body.

“Percival! Come on,” Vax bemoaned, flinging the water off of his arms.

His form melted off like the water, leaving Percy grinning past his damp fringe, his glasses askew on his face.

Not a second after shifting form, Vax pounced forward and knocked him into a clump of reeds. An action that left the fish staked around the fire to cook unattended. Vax went for his sides with a precision that he normally reserved for picking pockets. His knees jerked up as Vax found the spot he could torture.

Percy wheezed as he laughed, feebly trying to push Vax away.

“I give!” He wheezed, but Vax didn’t stop. Well, two could play at that game.

He trapped Vax’s hands between his elbows and his sides, twisting around until Vax was the one pressed against the reeds.

The unrepentant grin on Vax’s face just wouldn’t do.

Before Percy could close the distance Vax surged up to meet him with crushing pressure. Sealing his lips against Percy’s soft smile. He licked into his lovers mouth, tracing his tongue over the ridges on the top of Vax’s mouth.

“Mm, that tickles,” Vax protested weakly.

“Oh no, how terrible,” Percy dead-panned.

He bent to steal another kiss when the first tendril of something burning caught his attention.

“The fish!” he stumbled to his feet.

They were only slightly burnt near the fins, enough to eat around. When asked later, Percy would say they were the best fish he’d ever eaten.

 

* * *

 

The days continued like that, the river widening each day until it was easily big enough to sail on.

“We have to be getting close now,” Vax said from where he was piloting the carpet. Both of them were hunched over against the wind. It was blowing across the water.

“It’s weird that we haven’t seen any trading vessels on the river,” Percy mused. It was almost like they were downstream from a war ravaged country that had abandoned by all others, but that couldn’t be. There wasn’t anything wrong with the ground they’d covered. Sure, animals had been sparse but other than that. No poisons. Unless that volcano they’d come out of had been a much bigger and more recent problem for the surrounding area. It was strange that it hadn't erupted yet, they were far enough away from it now it could erupt and they wouldn't be able to hear it. Well, Vax wouldn't be able to hear it. Percy was more than happy to leave the volcano, and the lava, in the past. 

He never wanted to see Vax freeze up at the sight of it again. 

“Let’s take it down, we’re too high up to see much right now,” Percy offered.

The sun had dipped below the horizon already, leaving the fading light of dusk. They’d decided against stopping for the night today- they were that sure they would be able to find some form of civilization. Who knew of a river this large not having any settlements along it?

Something whizzed by Percy’s head, and he reached out and caught it on instinct, letting his glove take the impact of it. Missile snaring: 1, Arrows: 0.

“Is that Vex’ahlia’s arrow?” Vax didn’t wait for a response before taking the arrow and running his fingers down the shaft. “It feels like it. She’s got the V notched beneath the blue feather.”

"Stubby?" Vax leaned over the edge of the carpet and shouted quicker than Percy could yank him back from the edge. It sent his heart pounding. They had both fallen off of the stupid carpet far too many times to keep taking risks like that. He mentally added that to a list of things he wanted to lecture Vax about in the future. Once he wasn’t so exhausted. Once they were home.

“What are you doing in the sky? Wasn't they supposed to be in the underdark?” The yell came from Grog, he was probably the only one loud enough to reach them unless Scalan pulled something.

They turned to face each other.

“They found us. Why didn’t I think that could be a possibility?” Percy whispered.

“You’ve been going non-stop since we started this crazy adventure. You can’t think of everything, Percy.”

“You know, I’m oddly okay with that right now,” he said, bumping his shoulder against Vax’s. They took the carpet down through the air. Hopefully it would be the last time they used it for a while.

Vex’ahlia didn’t wait for them to stop the carpet before jumping up onto it and knocking both of them over.

“How dare you two do that- I was so worried about you two. Idiots, both of you,” her relief was transparent even through her volume. Which was loud enough to make Percy wince.

“We’re here in one piece sister, so please refrain from squeezing the life out of us,” Vax choked.

“Are you two really in one piece?” Pike asked, pushing Vex’s hip out of the way. She didn't sound convinced. 

Percy hugged her as she crawled onto the carpet to check them out. “We’ve taken some knocks over the past- um, hover long that actually was.”

“A month-ish.” Scanlan offered, though his eyes were assessing something, flicking between Percy and Vax. There was a slowly growing smile on his face that Percy had enough sense to be alarmed by.

“Felt longer than that,” Vax muttered.

Pike waved her hands over both of them, dropping a cure wounds on both of them. It wasn’t necessary, but the gesture was appreciated. It eased some of the bone deep pain he carried from pushing his transformations after staying in one form for so long.

Percy let a relieved breath out through his nose, “Yeah, it did. Let’s go home.”

Vax leaned over and threw an arm around Percy’s shoulder, dragging him into a hug with Vex.

“We’re already home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all she wrote folks! I've got a few oneshots that I've already written in the same universe of this story, but I don't know if I'll ever be as dedicated to it as I was to it the start. Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoyed the ride.
> 
> I started this fic back when I was still in university, so the fact that you guys stuck with me, even though I'm finishing it much later than I wanted to, means a lot to me. Thank you all for reading.


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